How to repair a parquet floor without sanding. How to update old parquet with your own hands and without sanding

Parquet board is a very durable material. To make it completely deteriorate, you need to try hard. Therefore, repairing old parquet most often consists of a simple restoration of the parquet board, which you can easily do yourself.

In order to polish parquet, repair cracks in it or solve the problem of peeling boards, you will need certain tools (parquet pencil, chisel, hammer with nail puller, drill, tape measure, spatula, brushes, sandpaper, possibly a sanding machine) and minimal skills to use them.

Restore original shine and beauty

Renewing parquet without sanding is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Before starting work, it is worth understanding what the reasons for such deviations lie. Most often, it is improper care that leads to scratches appearing and the coating losing its former appearance. To avoid repeated defects after restoration, you need to follow simple operating rules:

It is worth treating the entire area with wax or special means once every four weeks. More attention is paid to places with active movement of people.
There are special spray varnishes. They are suitable for those areas where burrs have already appeared.
There are products to restore shine - they can be used once every 14 days.
When the parquet board is not too thick, maintenance should not be wet. Or you can use oil or wax as a base - this composition helps it last longer. Treatment - once every two weeks.

If you follow these rules and perform basic care procedures, the service life will double. Those people who choose this particular finishing coating must understand how it is done.

How to remove minor defects?

Minor changes to the surface of the parquet are the easiest to remove. The simplest method is grinding. The simplest process is a special machine, not everyone has one, so sandpaper will help. Using paper is not so easy, but there are simple recommendations that can speed up this process:

You need to stick sandpaper of different grits onto any comfortable shoes.
When it is glued, the shoes are put on your feet, after which you just need to shuffle along the parquet board on the floor.
When the work is completed over the entire area, waxing is used.

If the floor has a new finish, then preventive maintenance is performed immediately (once a month). For the old one, you will have to do this procedure more often so that it does not deteriorate at all. This procedure is simple and does not take much time.

Can putty be used?

Experts believe that it is not necessary to perform grinding - you can resort to puttying. Most often, this option is suitable in cases where there are serious violations of the integrity of the surface. The principle of the method has some nuances:

You need to buy putty to match the color of the parquet.
Then spread the restoration paste over the surface.
When everything is dry, the coating is treated with fine sandpaper.
After this, you need to treat the floor with wax (rub it).

In order for the parquet to acquire its previous appearance, it is necessary to create the joints of the boards. There is a simple method for this:

To work you will need an awl and a ruler.
Using a ruler, apply pressure at the joints (you should get a seam).
The false pins are created with an awl, making longitudinal stripes exactly along the ruler.
Now you need to complete the coating. For this purpose, water-based parquet varnishes are used. They are safe and effective in this type of work.

To ensure that the coating is reliable and of high quality, the area is treated with varnish twice. Once everything is dry, you should use wax for rubbing. As you can see, updating parquet flooring is quite simple. All these procedures are beneficial and add shine to the floor.

Materials for coating parquet with varnish

Not every property owner knows how to cover the parquet after sanding. Before varnishing, you can apply the following solutions to the floor covering:

Antiseptics protect wood flooring from damage by fungus and mold, and protect against the effects of microorganisms and insects.
Fire retardants increase the fire-fighting properties of parquet and protect the surface from fire as a result of the influence of open fire.
Water-repellent impregnation penetrates deeply into the pores of the wood, preventing exposure to moisture, which leads to deformation of the dies.

Important! Special attention must be paid to the primer. This composition fills all microscopic cracks and improves the adhesion of the base surface. The primer is not applied before impregnating the parquet with oil.

Special compounds will help change the base color of the floor covering. How to tint parquet before applying varnish. To do this, you can use colored oil or a special solution, stain. Such substances highlight the wood texture and improve the depth of shades even for light flooring options.

Colored oil with special coloring pigments gives the parquet a beautiful noble tone and highlights the wood texture. This solution consists of natural components; after its application, you can obtain a coating that is resistant to moisture and chemical detergents. Using oil, you can artificially age wood, but to do this you need to walk over the surface with a hard metal brush.

Interesting article on the topic: Pros and cons of bamboo flooring

A good effect can be achieved by using stain. This composition allows you to obtain a smooth, rich floor covering. The stain penetrates deep into the structure of the material, but the pores are not clogged, allowing the wood to breathe.

How to deal with serious problems?

Before installing parquet flooring, it is worth assessing the complexity of the work in order to choose an effective method. With a long and improper period of use, the boards diverge. Many people believe that such a finishing coating has to be dismantled and a new one laid. There is always a solution for this problem:

You can drive small nails at a 45 degree angle into each board.
To deepen these fasteners, use a special rod or something similar.

But sometimes it’s not just one die that fails, but the entire perimeter. What to do in this case? Before updating the parquet, it is worth cutting special bamboo inserts. They will come out. To trim them, use any sharp object. Places of such addition can be covered with putty and masked with wax.

How to update old parquet? When this question arises, you have to pay attention to the general condition. The reasons are varied. Sometimes nothing is visually noticeable, but there is a slight creaking or any other sound. There is no need to invite a specialist, because many types of work can be done independently.

Sounds when walking

Oddly enough, the appearance of squeaking is the most common reason. The boards are drying out. Before updating the parquet with your own hands, you need to identify the places where such deviations exist. Sometimes, even with proper use of the coating, an unusual sound appears. This situation should not be ignored.

Of course, there are cases when it is impossible to remove the squeak because the base was not leveled initially. In such a situation, it is necessary to completely dismantle and level the rough concrete floor. Although this can be avoided. How to update old parquet without sanding? You will need to make wedges and install them on the floor around the perimeter.

Restoring worn parquet

What to do with too old parquet, how to restore its former attractiveness?

If the parquet has lost its shine and has an unattractive appearance, then you can restore it as follows:

First of all, you can restore old parquet using sanding, which you can do yourself. The top layer of varnish and wood is removed using a sanding machine (it can be rented), and the surface of the coating is leveled;
All cracks and defects are puttied manually using a mixture of putty and sawdust;
The surface of the parquet is leveled by fine sanding, primed and varnished.

It is possible to restore parquet flooring to its attractive appearance, and it is much easier and cheaper than installing a new coating. The main thing is to do the restoration in time; the smaller the defect, the easier it is to remove it.

Watch the video on how to restore a parquet board with your own hands:

Subsequence

This procedure is simple, but as a basis you should choose any available instruction and follow it:

There should not be high humidity in the room, otherwise it will not be possible to create the required conditions. This figure should not exceed 50%.
The plinths are dismantled and only after that wedging begins.
If old wedges were installed, they are removed.
At a distance of about 40 centimeters, new ones are laid out.
After which, over the course of 7 days, it is worth periodically sealing the inserts, while checking the surface for squeaks.

When this period of time is not enough to correct the situation, the reason lies in more serious deviations. You will have to carry out complete dismantling or come to terms with the presence of such sound. It is believed that the simplest task is to renew the varnish on the parquet. After a little time during operation, it “goes away” in places of active movement. It is not difficult to eliminate such a defect.

How to renew your varnish?

For this purpose, a special composition is purchased. It is better if it is water-based - it is completely safe and has decent qualities. Although many experts believe that there are coatings after which it is impossible to use water-based products. Therefore, it is necessary to establish what the parquet board is treated with.

You can even do the work yourself. To do this, the surface is cleaned of dust and other contaminants. Then you need to degrease the surface and remove any burrs. During the work process, it is worth carefully assessing the floor. If there are any chips or other flaws, it is better to remove them immediately. This is not difficult to do.

Varnishing video

Viewed times: 1,188

Great article 0

Author's rating

Author of the article

Oleg Grishin

Flooring specialist with 10 years of experience. Oleg has something to share with our readers

Articles written

105

Pros and cons of parquet
How to paint parquet?
What is parquet and how to choose it correctly

What's next?

Next, choose any tool - a roller, a brush, but it is better to use two at once. It is easy to apply any composition to the surface with a roller, and with a brush it is easier to reach hard-to-reach places. The varnish is applied over the entire area, you need to wait until it dries completely. To restore the original shine, you will have to apply two layers. The second one is applied after the previous one has completely dried in a thin layer.

How to update parquet flooring at home? Answering this question, you need to know that after each procedure you need to varnish and wax the floor. Without such actions it is difficult to give it beauty and original ideality.

Details

Types of parquet repairs

To implement your plans (eliminate defects), you will need special equipment and tools that can be purchased at a hardware store. But you can simply find it for rent through an ad in the newspaper or on the Internet. This will help you save a lot of money.

Set of building materials for parquet restoration

Let's look at the list of everything you need:
Personal protective equipment – goggles and respirator.
Small hammer, chisel and spatulas.
Hacksaw for wood.
Hammer or electric drill, with a full set of drills.
A regular powerful or industrial vacuum cleaner.
Sander, scraper or hand scraper.

Moreover, you need to take care of shoes with perfectly soft soles so as not to scratch the fresh varnish layer during the work process. Materials required:

Stain, oil, varnish composition and paint.
Adhesive composition and putty for wood.
New dies to replace damaged parquet flooring.

After this, you are ready to carry out DIY wood floor repair work.

Renewing parquet without sanding

This type of repair belongs to the category of surface repair and is carried out in several stages. It is necessary to dismantle the thresholds and baseboards, they will interfere. Use a sander to remove the old varnish layer, and use a hand scraper in hard-to-reach places. If you don’t have a machine, use a special hairdryer, then heat the surface of the varnish and clean it off with a spatula. After a thorough preparatory stage, you need to remove dust and debris in the room with a vacuum cleaner.

It is necessary to inspect the surface and, if considered necessary, then putty certain areas. Next, go through the sanding machine a second time, but with a coarse-grained attachment so that there are no roughnesses. Next, vacuum so that there is no dust at all. Next, prime the surface with the first coat of varnish, apply with a wide brush or roller, and then let it dry. Using fine sandpaper, sand the surface, remove dust and apply a second coat of varnish. This can be repeated up to 9 times until the floor becomes perfectly smooth and even. It is important to apply the varnish composition to the parquet along the fibers, and the last varnish layer dries for at least 3 days. It is necessary to close all windows and doors in the room in advance, so that there are no drafts at all and do not allow dust to fall on the newly varnished surface.

Cracks and scratches

We looked at how to update parquet flooring without sanding with your own hands. If you have a pet in your house or apartment, then scratches from the pet’s claws will definitely appear on the surface. When there are not so many scratches, they can be eliminated using a wax pencil, which will clog microscopic cracks. This is an economical restoration option that does not require a lot of effort and time. If large, deep scratches or cracks appear on the floor, for example, if pieces of furniture were moved without pads on the legs, then there is no way to do without cleaning the varnish composition.

Clean it using the methods described above and then use an automatic or manual scraper to remove the thin layer of wood. Inexperienced beginners will find it very difficult to achieve perfect results in one go. Be prepared that the scraping procedure will need to be performed several times. Next, thoroughly clean everything from any remaining dust in the room, prime, putty and cover with a layer of varnish. You need to do the procedure so many times for everything to be perfectly smooth.

Chips and gouges in parquet boards

Although parquet flooring is made from hardwood, it will not be immune to larger defects. In this case, the steps will be the same as when removing scratches; mix the putty with dust after the cycling process. Cover the defects with a wide spatula. Try to make sure that the movements are in the direction of the wood fibers. Due to the fact that the putty mixture is made from wood dust, the treated potholes and chips will not stand out against the general background. Prime the surface and coat it with varnish, and then restore the parquet - cleaning, sanding and varnishing, and so on several times in a circle.

Crevices

Gaps between the dies are formed due to the ability of wood to absorb water and also dry out if the air in the room is dry. Fixing this problem is not that difficult. You still need to remove the protective layer, and then you need to carefully vacuum every crack and clean it of debris with a knife. Open and clean cracks must be covered with a putty solution containing wood dust from sanding. Next, similarly restore the varnish layer in several layers.

Floor creaks, local update

Parquet flooring begins to produce unpleasant sounds for 3 reasons. Firstly, the bars have become loose over time, secondly, the wedges between the flooring and the wall have sagged, and voids are beginning to appear under the boards. When eliminating them, there is no need to remove the varnish layer and scrape the surface. First, you need to check with wedges under the baseboards, and finding that they have dried out and do not hold the parquet, you need to remove each one and install new ones.

After returning the baseboard slats to their original place, you need to observe the floor for 7 days. If the sound does not disappear, you will need to find the cause elsewhere. Parquet flooring is laid on a sheet of plywood or screed.

Over time, they collapse and gaps appear, and in this place the floorboards begin to creak. This defect can be corrected using a simple method. Determine the die from under which the creaking will be heard. Drill a hole and use a large syringe to pump in adhesive or cement.

When working with cement mortar, remember that it hardens quickly, so do everything quickly and carefully. As soon as the mixture stops getting inside and appears on the surface, you need to complete the procedure and place the press on the area. After a couple of days, remove the weights and seal the drilling site. What if the creaking has a large area? In this case, the entire surface will need to be redone, and it will be necessary not only to remove the protective layer, but also to completely re-lay the parquet.

Blistering

So, how to update parquet without sanding? The biggest nuisance is if the dies become bumpy. This will indicate that during the installation process technology was violated or water began to seep under the tree and the blocks swelled. If this affects panel-type parquet, then there is no way to do without a complete re-laying. When small areas begin to swell due to moisture, warm up the floor surface.

After the specific aroma of chemicals appears, place a weight on the treated area. Its weight should be 12 kg per dm2, and after a day, inspect the surface; if the tuberosity has decreased, you need to perform the procedure again. In the case where the parquet laying technique is broken and the gaps between the wall and the flooring are not taken into account, the floor must be completely dismantled. Dry each beam in natural conditions, and then lay it on the floor again.

Plank restoration

When renewing a wood deck, you may often notice that certain pieces of wood no longer stay in place. In this case, the old type of planks must be replaced and further work must be carried out to restore the work on the entire plane. The actions are:

Remove the varnish to find the bars that need repair.
When the gap from one strip to the others is greater than 0.5 cm, replacement is required.
Small cracks need to be filled with glue, weighed down and left for several hours.
If the bars need to be changed, then remove them with a chisel and hammer, splitting them in the center.
Scrape off any remaining wood adhesive with a narrow spatula.
Adjust the dimensions of the replacement strip.
Lubricate the cleaned base with adhesive solution.
Place the block so that the grooves coincide with the grooves of the one lying down, and press firmly.
After a week under the weighting agent, putty the entire floor, sand it and treat it with a varnish composition, as in other examples.

As you can see, everything is not so complicated.

Sticky plasticine

And finally, it’s worth considering how to get rid of fresh chewing gum on the surface of wood. The solvent helps, but stains remain. Use a simple ice cube and hold it over the plasticine, and after freezing you can easily remove the “decor” from the parquet surface without harm.